The Bleating Sheep...searching for some light in a darkish World

Have a Happy Day : )

Okay Universe, say "Cheese"!

Perhaps you've seen this image recently as it's been making the media rounds this past week or so. If you have no idea what this is about, which if you're reading my blog and on the internet I would find hard to believe, I can tell you that it's an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of a massive galaxy cluster known as SDSS J1038+4849. That last bit means nothing to me, but I suppose it does to some
astronomers out there. Of course much of the attention this adorable piece of space is getting is because it resembles a smiley face. I like it because I believe it shows God has a sense of humor and it just plain makes me, well, smile! Of course this got me to thinking, as many things do, about where the iconic smiley face originated. This also got my brain-gears grinding and I thought this would be a great first installment of my brain's

"Yup, I'm the original"

grinding product, which I decided to call Flashback Friday. Now I do relish digging back in time as I already have done in earlier posts, but I'd like to set aside Friday specifically for looking over the shoulder of time to emphasis some fun stuff from our past. Getting back to Smiley, he was originally created by Harvey Ross Ball in 1963 (a great year I may add) as an ad campaign for the State Mutual Life Assurance Company as a morale booster. There's a lot more to this little guy's history and if you care to find out more, here's the link...

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/who-really-invented-the-smiley-face-2058483/?no-ist

You'll notice he's gone through some changes in his 50-plus years, most apparent are the changes to his eyes. They aren't quite the same as was the artist's intent which I actually find quite charming. For such a simple guy he's sported many different looks. Here are a few....